To-do List News Ticker [SteemSoftware v0.7.0]

Repository

https://github.com/steemsoftware/steemsoftware

Latest SteemSoftware's functionality is inspired by SMT: A web ticker (like on the news) which scrolls your to do list.

(Image credit goes to 'xresch' from pixabay.com)

New Features

• What feature(s) did you add?

SteemSoftware v0.7.0 adds a new To-do List News Ticker.

The gist of it is to allow the user to scroll his or her To-do list on the screen for keeping it in mind while using other programs.

• How did you implement it/them?

The core code for the scrolling functionality is present in the "Add OnPaint() code" commit:

        /// <summary>
        /// Handles the form's paint event.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="e">Paint event arguments.</param>
        protected override void OnPaint(PaintEventArgs e)
        {
            // Set current buffered graphics context
            BufferedGraphicsContext currentContext = BufferedGraphicsManager.Current;

            // Set buffered graphics
            BufferedGraphics bufferedGraphics = currentContext.Allocate(e.Graphics, this.DisplayRectangle);

            // Clear graphics
            bufferedGraphics.Graphics.Clear(this.BackColor);

            // Draw news ticker text. 5 = half padding
            bufferedGraphics.Graphics.DrawString(this.newsTickerText, this.newsTickerTextFont, new SolidBrush(this.foregroundColor), this.xPos, 5);

            // Make it happen
            bufferedGraphics.Render();

            // Free resources
            bufferedGraphics.Dispose();
        }

After overriding the OnPaint() event, the ticker text is written to a buffered graphics which decrements its position in the X axis in order to create the scrolling text effect.

Once the X position is decremented to the point there is no visible text, it is reset to the rightmost point, in a loop. As seen in commit "Add NewsTickerTimerTick() code":

            // Check if text finished displaying
            if (this.xPos < (this.textSize.Width * -1))
            {
                // Reset text position to the rightmost point
                this.xPos = this.DisplayRectangle.Width;
            }
            else
            {
                // Make text move to the left smoothly i.e. one pixel at a time
                this.xPos -= 1;
            }

            // Force redraw
            this.Invalidate();

Another relevant portion of the news ticker functionality can be found in commit "Add OnShowTickerButtonClick() code":

        /// <summary>
        /// Handles the show ticker button click event.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="sender">Sender object.</param>
        /// <param name="e">Event arguments.</param>
        private void OnShowTickerButtonClick(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            // Check for list items
            if (this.todoListBox.Items.Count == 0)
            {
                // Halt flow
                return;
            }

            // Check button text
            if (this.showTickerButton.Text.StartsWith("&C", StringComparison.InvariantCulture))
            {
                // Close news ticker form
                this.newsTickerForm.Close();

                // Set text back
                this.showTickerButton.Text = "&Show ticker";

                // Halt flow
                return;
            }
            else
            {
                // Update text
                this.showTickerButton.Text = "&Close ticker";
            }

            // Set ticker data
            this.SetToDoListNewsTickerData();

            // Set working area width
            var workingAreaWidth = Screen.FromControl(this).WorkingArea.Width;

            // Set working area height
            var workingAreaHeight = Screen.FromControl(this).WorkingArea.Height;

            // Set news ticker font
            var newsTickerFont = (Font)this.fontConverter.ConvertFromInvariantString(this.toDoListNewsTickerData.TextFont);

            // Declare new ticker form
            this.newsTickerForm = new NewsTickerForm(string.Join(this.toDoListNewsTickerData.Separator, this.todoListBox.Items.Cast<string>()), newsTickerFont, this.toDoListNewsTickerData.TimerInterval, this.toDoListNewsTickerData.ForegroundColor, this.toDoListNewsTickerData.BackgroundColor)
            {
                // Set ticker height using font's height plus 10 pixels for padding
                Height = newsTickerFont.Height + 10,

                // Set ticker width
                Width = workingAreaWidth
            };

            // Check for full width
            if (!this.fullWidthToolStripMenuItem.Checked)
            {
                // Subtract from width
                this.newsTickerForm.Width -= this.toDoListNewsTickerData.LeftMargin + this.toDoListNewsTickerData.RightMargin;

                // Adjust left
                this.newsTickerForm.Left = this.toDoListNewsTickerData.LeftMargin;
            }

            // Adjust top
            this.newsTickerForm.Top = workingAreaHeight - this.newsTickerForm.Height - this.toDoListNewsTickerData.BottomMargin;

            // Handle always on top
            this.newsTickerForm.TopMost = this.alwaysOnTopToolStripMenuItem.Checked;

            // Show news ticker
            this.newsTickerForm.Show();
        }

There are several calculations made at this point in order to show the news ticker form appropriately. The news ticker form's geometry is set from the parent form before the show method is called.

This approach limits the amount of variables passed to the NewsTickerForm() constructor, which adds in terms of code readability.

Here is the pertinent commit comparison for the implemented features: https://github.com/steemsoftware/steemsoftware/compare/6f71407...1af0617

Thank you very much for your time and support.

Feel free to reach me at [email protected]

Victor

GitHub Account

https://github.com/steemsoftware